Police are investigating the death of a 22-year-old transgender woman of color, identified as Deeniquia Dodds, who died Wednesday night after she was shot in Washington, D.C., on the Fourth of July, a local television station WRC reported.

WRC reported that loved ones called Dodds "Dee Dee." Dodds was "brutally shot in the neck and left to die," LGBT activist Earline Budd, a representative for Dodds' family, told WRC in a statement.

Source: Facebook

"Her murder reminds us all of how often the transgender community is targeted for violence in our society," Budd said.

2015 was a record year for transgender violence in the United States. During the first two months of 2015, transgender women were killed nationwide at the rate of one per week.

Police found Dodds with a gunshot wound, and she was brought to the hospital and placed on life support for nine days.

Joeann Lewis, who raised Dodds, told WRC that she was a "beautiful person" who "loved to make you laugh."

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FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2009 file photo, transgender activist and prominent AIDS leader Diego Sanchez talks about his work as a legislative assistant to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sanchez became the first transgender person named to the Democratic Partyâs national platform committee. President Barack Obama, who established his bona fides as a gay and lesbian rights champion when he endorsed same-sex marriage, has steadily extended his administrationâs advocacy to the community that comprises the smallest and least accepted band of the LGBT rainbow: transgender Americans. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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Dana Beyer poses for a portrait at her home in Chevy Chase, Md. on Monday, June 9, 2008. Beyer is a transgender activist in Maryland's Montgomery County, where the county council voted 8-0 last year to extend civil rights protections on the basis of gender identity. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Transgendered novelist and Colby College english professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, poses Monday, march 3, 2008 at her home in Belgrade Lakes, Maine. Boylan, 49, has become an activist for the nation's transgendered and one of the most widely recognized transsexuals of recent years. (AP Photo/Joel Page)

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Jenna Talackova (R) arrives for a press conference in Los Angeles with her attorner Gloria Allred (out of frame) on April 3, 2012. Canada's Miss Universe pageant said it would allow the transgendered model to compete in its pageant as long as Canada recognizes her gender as a woman. Talackova was previously disqualified, she said, because she used to be male. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

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The shooting is not yet being investigated as a hate crime, and the police have not released any information on the suspect.

"We have no information to suggest the crime was motivated by hate, at this point," Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said to WRC.

Lewis said family worried about Dodds' safety because she was a sex worker. She urged for more acceptance of people in the LGBTQ community.

"Regardless of what their sexuality is, they are human beings just like we are," Lewis said to WRC.

In an earlier interview with Mic, former co-director of community organizing and public advocacy at the New York City Anti-Violence Project Chai Jindasurat said that to address trans violence, Congress must address more than just transphobia.

"It's about housing, poverty and the limited options that society provides trans women of color that puts them at risk for violence — things like shelter, jobs and access to public institutions will help transgender women of color," Jindasurat said.